Bicycle-supporter.



No. 635,6!8. Patented Oct. 24, I899.

- H. VANDEB WEYDE. BICYCLE SUPPORTE R.

(Application filed Sept. 6, 1899.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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No. 635,6I8.

H. VANDEB WEYDE. BICYCLE SUPPORTER.

(No Model.)

(Application filed Sept. 6, 1899.)

atented Oct. 24, I899 2 Sheets8heet 2,

HENRY VANDER WEYDE,

rinse,

ATEN

OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

BICYCLE-*SUPPORTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,618, dated October 24, 1899-.

Application filed September 6, 1899. $eria1No. 729,644. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may con-corn.-

Be it known that LHENRY VANDER WE YDE, a resident of 182 Regent street, London, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Bicycle-Supporters, (for which an application for patent has been filed in Great Britain, dated September 17, 1898, No. 19,784,) of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates toimproved means of supporting a bicycle when standing idle; and the invention has for its object to provide a simple, light, and compact appliance capable of automatically assuming the operative position for the purpose of maintaining the machinein the erect position whetherit be standing on level ground or on a laterally-sloping surface, (at the side of a road, forinstance,) to which the appliance is self-adjusting.

The appliance of my invention comprises a pair of extensible supporters capable of being normally contracted into a very small compass and of being instantaneously projected downward until they bear upon the ground, these supporters being constructed each of a system of crossed levers on the lazy-tongs principle, the uppermost pair of levers being attached to the frame of the machine, the one lever by pivotal and the other by a sliding connection, there being combined therewith a coiled spring tending to extend the lazytongs system of levers and a pawl and rack, whereby the supporter is prevented from collapsing under the weight that may come upon it when it bears on the ground. The lazytongs supporters are independent as regards their relative amount of extension; but they are brought into and out of action simultaneously by means of cord or other connections, which either permit the detent-pawls to slip over and engage with the racks, so as to mainiain the supporters in the position to which they are extended by their springs, or which disengage the pawls from the racks and by overcoming the springs contract and raise the supporters.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a

partial rear elevation, of the supporters as applied to a bicycle; and Fig. 3 is a side view of one of the supporters on a larger scale.

The extensible supporter A, constructed of pairs of crossed levers in the manner of lazy-tongs, has the upper pair of levers pivoted, the one, A, at a fixed point a and the other, A to a point Z) on a sliding carriage B, fitted to work along a rack-bar O, fixed below the compression-stay D of the machine-frame. For this purpose the one end of the bar 0 may be attached to a clip 6, embracing the stay D, and the other end to a plate or washer e, secured by the nuton the spindle of the drivingwheel of the machine, these attachments to the frame being so set as to give the supporter when extended such an outward inclination (about thirty degrees from the longitudinal vertical plane of the machine) as to insure the necessary breadth of supporting-base. The under side of the bar 0 has ratchet teeth c, with which a pawl f, mounted on the sliding carriage B, is adapted to engage, the direct-ion of the teeth and pawl being such as to oppose the movement of the carriage B in the direction away from the other pivot a. The pawl f is in articulated engagement with an operating-lever F, also pivoted on the carriage B and terminating in an eye at right angles to its length, forming a guide for the operating-cord G. This cord is attached to an eye at the extremity of an arm A fast with the lazy-tongs lever A or its pivot, so that when drawn upon said lever will be moved about its pivot in direction for contracting the lazy-tongs system. The cord G also passes through a fixed guide-eye h and is knotted at g, so as when pulled to act on the lever F in such manner as to cause the pawl to be disengaged from the rack-teeth and draw the carriage along the rack-bar. This movement, initiated by the knot 9 acting on the lever F, is continued by the pull of the cord acting on the arm A with the effectof causing the eye of the lever F to move faster than and away from the knot g, the pawl being all the time held out of engagement with the rack owing to the inclination of the cord G, up which the lever runs until the lazy-tongs system is contracted to the utmost extent. This movement is opposed by a spring t', made fast at one end t" to the lever A and coiled about a barrel I, fast with the other lever A, the barrel being axially coincident with the common pivot of the two levers, so that as the lazy-tongs is contracted the tension of said spring is increased in readiness to produce the extension movement of the lazy-ton gs immediately it is permitted to come into action. This is normally prevented by the tension of the cord Gr, which is applied and maintained by the following means: The cords G of the twolazy-tongs supporters at opposite sides of the machine are connected to the opposite ends of a U-shaped yoke J, to the bow portion of which is attached a single cord K, that passes around aguide-pulley kin rear of the bottom bracket and up behind the down-tube M of the machine-frame, the other end of the cord being connected to a swiveling eye Z, pivoted to a lever L, which is itself pivoted at Z to a clamp embracing the tube M, the lever L being bent or cranked, so that when swung upon its pivot to the position indicated in dotted lines (in which the lever comes against a stop 1 the swiveling eye will have been raised from below the pivotal center Z of the lever to a point above it, thereby drawing on the cord, and will also have been carried past the vertical, passing through said center, so that the lever will be maintained in the raised position by the tension of the cord. \Vhen the lever is turned down, the cord is slackened and the lazy-tongs supporters are immediately extended by the action of their springs '5 until shoes N at their lower ends meet the ground at either side of the machine, and this whether the ground at the two sides be at the same level or not. In this movement the carriages l3 slide along the rackbars 0, over the teeth of which the pawls slip, until on the supporters coming in contact with the ground the cords G are so slackened that the pawls are permitted to engage with the teeth and so prevent the supporters yielding under any pressure that may come upon them.

In order to enable the shoe N to accommodate itselt to the variable slope of the ground or the variable degree of extension of the supporter and to prevent slipping on smooth ground or sinking in soft ground, it is made in the form of a cupped disk with serrated edges and is connected loosely to a pivot downwardly projecting from the extremity of the lowermost members of the lazy-tongs.

I claim 1. A bicycle-supporter, consisting of a system of lazy-tongs levers in combination with means for extending said levers, a device for locking the supporter in the extended position, and means arranged in juxtaposition to the said locking device and connected with the said system of levers, and adapted when actuated to release the lockin g device and also to contract the levers, substantially as specified.

2. A bicycle-s11 pporter, consisting of a system of lazy-tongs levers in combination with a rack-bar a carriage sliding on the rack-bar one lever of the uppermost pair being pivoted at a fixed point and the other to said carriage, and a pawl carried by said carriage and adapted to engage the rack-teeth for the purpose of maintaining the lazy-tongsin the extended position, substantially as specified.

3. A bicycle-supporter, consisting of a system of spring-actuated lazy-tongs levers a rack-bar, a carriage adapted to slide along saidrack-bar, a pawl carried by said carriage for engagement with the rack, the upper pair of lovers being pivoted one to a fixed point and the other to said carriage, the lever pivoted to a fixed point being provided with an arm for imparting angular motion to said lever about its pivot, a cord connected to said arm and a lever in connection with the pawl, the said cord being adapted to act on said lever so as when pulled to first release the pawl and then impart motion to the lazy-tongs in the direction for effecting their contraction, substantially as specified.

4. A bicycle-supporter, consisting of two systems of lazy-tongs levers, a spring for extending each system of levers, and locking mechanisms constructed and applied to 0perate at opposite sides of the machine as described, in combination with knotted cords arranged in juxtaposition to the locking mechanisms, whereby when the cords are actuated the knots engage with said mechanisms to release the same, the said cords also imparting motion to the lazy-tongs in the direction of their contraction, and a single cord for acting conjointly on the cords connected to the two mechanisms, as described.

5. In a bicycle-supporter, the combination with a system of lazy-tongs levers, of a rackbar secured to the bicycle-frame, a carriage arranged to slide on said rack-bar, one of the levers of the uppermost pair being pivoted at its upper end at a fixed point, the upper end of the other lever being pivoted to said carriage, a coil-spring connected with the levers of the uppermost pair for extending the system of levers, a pawl carried by said carriage and adapted to engage the rack-teeth to maintain the lazy-tongs in the extended position, an arm connected with the lever pivoted to a fixed point, and means adapted when actuated to release the said pawl and impart motion to the said arm, whereby the lazy-tongs are contracted, substantially as described.

Signed by the said HENRY VANDER WEYDE this 19th day of August, 1899.

HENRY VANDER WVEYDE.

In presence of--- II. D. J AMESON, A. NUTTING. 

